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VALHALLA, NY (WCBS 880) – In an effort to grow local businesses and bring more jobs to Westchester County, two biotech firms will soon be offering mini MBA programs at Westchester Community College for their employees.

“The idea is to offer the competitive product, what many of the Ivy League colleges have offered,” says county economic development director Larry Gottlieb. “We’re taking state training dollars and funneling them two a public-private partnership.”

He says this is a unique partnership. Each party is picking up 50 percent of the cost.

“What we’re trying to do is help these firms to grow – to add employees by training their existing management how to grow those companies,” says Gottlieb. “We hope that that will foster growth for the unemployed, and it’s really the idea [that] you throw a pebble in the middle of the brook and get a ripple effect going for the entire economy.”

The two companies participating are Aureon Biosciences, Inc. of Yonkers and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals of Tarrytown.